Robotic Russian Supply Ship Docks at Space Station

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A robotic Russian cargo ship pulled up to the International Space
Station Friday (Jan. 27), delivering tons of fresh fruit,
clothing and other vital supplies for the orbiting lab's six-man
crew.

The
Progress 46 cargo ship arrived at the space station at about
7:09 p.m. EST (0009 GMT Jan. 28) after a two-day spaceflight that
marked Russia's first space mission of the year. The supply ship
launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and docked with
the space station as the two spacecraft sailed about 240 miles
(386 kilometers) above the northeastern coast of Brazil.

The unmanned spacecraft is carrying about 2.9 tons of supplies
for the
space station's Expedition 30 crew, according to a NASA
description. The cargo ship is packed with about 2,050 pounds
(930 kilograms) of fuel, 110 pounds (50 kg) of oxygen and air,
926 pounds (420 kg) of water and 2,778 pounds (1,260 kg) of spare
parts and experiment gear.

The space station is currently home to three astronauts and three
cosmonauts. Three Russians, two Americans and one Dutch astronaut
make up the Expedition 30 crew. The Russian cosmonauts stood
ready to take remote control of Progress 46 in case the automated
spacecraft veered off course, but the cargo ship parked itself
flawlessly as planned.

Russia's robotic Progress spacecraft are 24 feet (7.3 meters)
long and have a three-module design that resembles the crewed
Soyuz space capsules that are used to ferry astronauts and
cosmonauts to and from the International Space Station. But
instead of the crewed capsule used on Soyuz vehicles, Progress
spacecraft have a propellant module filled with fuel for the
station's Russian-built thrusters. [ Infographic:
How Russia's Progress Spaceships Work ]

Progress vehicles are disposable and are intentionally commanded
to burn up in Earth's atmosphere at the end of their space
missions. Russia's Federal Space Agency plans to launch several
Progress vehicles this year to keep the station stocked with
supplies.

Earlier this week, an older Progress spacecraft — Progress 45
—undocked from the space station's Earth-facing Pirs docking port
to make room for the new supply ship. Progress 45 deployed a
small, 88-pound (40-kg) microsatellite called Chibis-M before
ending its mission with a fiery plunge toward Earth. The Chibis-M
satellite is designed to study how plasma waves interact with
Earth's ionosphere, NASA officials have said.

As the space station crewmembers prepare to unpack the Progress
46 cargo ship, NASA engineers at Mission Control in Houston are
tracking a piece of
Chinese space junk to determine if the space station will
have to fire its thrusters to dodge the orbital trash.

The space junk is a piece of debris from China's Fengyun 1C
weather satellite, which was destroyed in 2007 during a Chinese
anti-satellite test. There are seven "opportunities for the
debris to make a close approach to the station," NASA officials
said.

If a dodging maneuver is required, the space station would likely
perform the move on Saturday (Jan. 28) at 6:50 p.m. EST (2150
GMT).

Meanwhile, Russian space station officials are discussing a
potential
launch delay for the next crewed Soyuz capsule bound for the
orbiting lab. That Soyuz spacecraft was slated to blast off with
three new station crewmembers on March 29, but a recent
pressurization test revealed cracks in the vehicle's crew
capsule.

Russian spacecraft engineers plan to replace the crew module and
work to determine why it failed the pressurization test, which
was designed to check whether it was airtight and fit for
spaceflight.